Home selling is a wild and stressful adventure.
Once an offer is accepted, the deal is not done — there are more steps and the decision-making power basically shifts to the Buyers. Sales contracts have various contingencies that must be released for the deal to proceed to closing; one of these is The Inspection (cue the scary music).
A Buyer can change their mind at this stage for any reason. A drip can sink the whole thing. Buyers are not required to allow the Seller to correct an issue and so the inspection phase is a great opportunity to act on Buyer’s Remorse, if so desired.
My house was inspected on Wednesday afternoon and on a Stress Scale of 1 - 10, it was a 24.
I knew the Buyers would be here for some of it and so I wanted things to be clean and nice. I also knew the inspector would need access to every place in the house and so the cats could not stay in the Safe Room; they had to be out of the house.
Claire helpfully tested one of the stove burners the day before inspection while I was outside setting up a cat kennel in the garage. Unfortunately, there was a plastic egg container on that burner.
FYI — it is very, very hard to get plastic off a stovetop burner.
I typically keep knobs off the stove but with all the showings — well, I forgot and so yes, this was my fault.
Because having to get the cats out of the house was not quite enough stress, I also had an extra dog — Daisy was here while her family visited Bethany’s parents.
Harper B and Daisy
I worked and cleaned and worked and cleaned. Hours and hours.
Finally, the house was ready and it was time to load up.
Some cats were very cooperative and went nicely into their cat kennel in the garage but one — age 15 and not very mobile under normal circumstances — waited until I was closing the kennel door, and then bolted with amazing speed and agility not seen in many years. A formerly feral cat, Carlos was quickly gone from sight 😭
The two younger feral cats I adopted 18 months ago were absolutely panicked at the thought of getting in a crate and it was a total circus, with one fear peeing on the floor (luckily it was vinyl flooring). This was not helpful.
I finally got the poor, scared cats in a crate and in the van. I cleaned and mopped the floor — because I needed one more thing to do. I also called my sister at this point, crying about Carlos being loose and just everything. Thank goodness for a calm sister.
With six dogs and two cats in the van, some cats in the garage, and Carlos on a walkabout — I finally left the house.
Sparkle and Capella were dropped off with Suzanne to have a playdate — that was very helpful. The rest of us spent FIVE hours driving.
Yes, five hours.
#neveragain
I knew where Carlos was — hiding in this giant bush off the deck.
I set up a trap and cameras.
The cameras spotted him investigating the trap but he has been trapped before and wasn’t hungry enough to fall for it again.
Last night (Friday) I saw Pozy at the fence and I figured she was talking to Carlos.
Pozy: Are you ready to come home yet?
Carlos: I am a badass Camper Cat now, living dangerously off the grid.
Pozy: You are literally under mom’s bedroom window, Carlos.
Carlos: Is there tuna involved?
I went out to investigate and sure enough, there he was.
I grabbed the can of tuna and raced around to where he could emerge from the giant bush if he so desired.
He was apparently hungry enough to give up the dangerous Camper Cat lifestyle because he came out and I was able to grab him.
What a relief.
Carlos, sort of domesticated once again.
And so with the capture of the Camper Cat, the inspection trauma was finally over — two days after the actual inspection.
I won’t know anything about the inspection findings until next week.
Whose idea was all this?!
Happy Saturday to all ❤️
(Including me because I sure need it!)